CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR GEOSCIENTISTS TO DEVELOP SUSTAINABLE WATER RESOURCES SYSTEMS IN THE FUTURE

Decision makers, resource managers, and scientists are facing a very challenging future. Global change – e.g., population growth and migration, changes in land and water use, and climate change are putting unprecedented demands on our natural resources. In addition, the unprecedented number of scientists and resource professionals retiring, the growing national deficit and the political rancor and partisanship being exhibited nation-wide are all contributing to the challenges being faced by geoscientist. The question at hand is how can natural resources professionals develop opportunities from these challenges, how can we sustainably manage the nation’s natural resources in the face of potential chaos?

In the water resources field, understanding the hydrology and geology of a basin is not nearly enough to manage water in a basin or watershed that is under stress from global changes. We need to understand the physical system with its opportunities and constraints; however, we also need to understand the political, socioeconomic, legal, biological, and cultural opportunities and constraints. Geoscientists generally focus on developing or improving our understanding the hydrological “capacity” of the basin, i.e., how much water is actually physically available where and when. However, they also need to understand how potential water use is constrained by legal constrains (e.g., water law, compacts and treaties) and socioeconomic constraints; or conversely, what opportunities can be driven by public acceptance and political will. Not only do geoscientists need to understand these issues, but they need to help inform managers and decision makers the scientific opportunities, constraints and needs, in the context of the physical, socioeconomic and legal realities to help build more efficient, resilient and adaptive water management systems in the future.